


After the Worst

by ecaracap



Category: How to Get Away with Murder
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Community: 1-million-words, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, On the Run
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-10
Updated: 2015-07-12
Packaged: 2018-03-30 00:01:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3915592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ecaracap/pseuds/ecaracap
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Connor needs to get away after the police find out about Rebecca's death</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Escape

**Author's Note:**

  * For [csichick_2](https://archiveofourown.org/users/csichick_2/gifts).



Connor gets as far as Virginia before he has to stop. His heart races the entire time and he spends just as much time looking in the rearview mirror as he does out of the windshield. 

It’s 3:42 AM and his car has run out of gas. Connor as well has pumped through all the adrenalin in his blood and now he feels like he’s going to collapse. He stops as a little backroad gas station, almost asking the attendant where a motel is. But he thinks better of it, not wanting any more witnesses to be able to place a young, dark-haired man looking bewildered in the middle of the night.

Connor heads down the road a little ways until he comes across the 434 Inn, a small, shabby motel that advertises hourly rates and free HBO. He pulls his hood up as much as he can, paying for the room in the cash he grabbed from the apartment before he left. 

As he heads into his tiny, musty room, he flops down onto the bed. It’s only now that he allows himself to think about the gravity of the situation. Rebecca was dead and they were all accomplices there. Nothing could be covered up this time. He thinks about waiting just a little bit longer until Oliver gets home, but he couldn’t ask Oliver to do this for him. He had to get away and he had to keep Oliver safe.

His hands go to his face, scrubbing over it, as he lets out a frustrated groan. He has to figure out what he’s going to do from here.


	2. Lost

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver finds a worrisome note left at the apartment

Oliver comes home from work to find their apartment empty. It’s not an uncommon occurrence - Connor studies at the library, has a case to try at court or something at Annalise’s house that needs to be finished as soon as possible. 

What is an uncommon occurrence is the note that Oliver finds on the kitchen's island. It first strikes Oliver as odd that there’s a note from Connor at all; in all the months they’ve been together, Connor has never left him a note before, not even saying he’s going to be late. But what this note says is what concerns Oliver the most: “I’m Sorry.” Two words, written hastily in Connor’s blocky handwriting that send Oliver’s mind into a frenzy. What had Connor done that he felt the need to apologize for? More importantly, why couldn’t Connor apologize in person?

Immediately, Oliver pulls out his phone to call Connor. Straight to voicemail. Is Connor’s phone off or is he just ignoring his phone call? Either possibility makes Oliver anxious, since Connor never turns his phone off, not even in court. He tries calling again and then again. Still no answer. Finally, Oliver ends up sending him a text, trying to come off easy, simply asking how he is doing for right now.

Oliver tries to go about the rest of his night normally, making himself some food, watching some television. He texts Connor again, becoming increasingly worried, asking Connor what’s wrong, then practically begging him to call him. Even if Connor just wanted some time to himself or if he was working late, he would at least send Oliver a quick text that he was busy. But now, nothing.

He falls into a fitful sleep alone, not really sleeping so much at all. Waking up early as he always does, his stomach is in knots with worry. Oliver tries to call Connor again, texting him one more time before he decides he's going to do something he promised himself he never would. He always said he would trust Connor no matter what from now on, but this time it wasn’t about trust: it was about his uneasiness.

Oliver heads out into the living room to get his laptop, pulling up his hacking software. Connor had been watching Oliver do this for months, but he still didn’t understand any of it. As Oliver tracks down Connor’s cell phone's SIM card, it becomes clear that Connor turned his phone off. Maybe he didn’t want to get the calls he knew Oliver would make or maybe he knew Oliver would try to find him and he didn’t want to be found. Unluckily for Connor, a little thing like being turned off wasn’t going to stop Oliver from finding him.

It takes Oliver a few minutes to hack into Connor’s phone, but he’s able to turn it on, which enables him to get Connor’s exact location. Oliver frowns at the screen in front of him, confused, “Virginia?"


	3. Found

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver finds Connor in the motel...and he tells him everything.

As soon as Oliver has Connor’s position, he grabs a bag with a few things in it and takes off for him. It takes him less time than it should to reach Connor in Virginia since he’s going well above the speed limit the entire time, but he wants to make sure Connor doesn’t leave.

The location on his phone puts Connor’s phone in room 11 and even though he’s not certain Connor’s in there. He bangs on the door loudly before he can think better of it.

Connor groans at the loud, pounding noise from the door. But after he figures out what it is, his eyes pop open and his heart begins to race. They couldn’t have found him here, there’s no way - he parked where he couldn’t be seen from the road, he used cash, he turned his phone off. He gets up slowly, peering through the peephole to see who it is. When he sees the other man out there, his heart nearly stops - Oliver. How did he find him here? He considers not opening the door, but only for a moment. He can’t resist seeing him, even if it’s one last time.

He opens the door quickly, pulling Oliver inside before shutting the door behind him, “What the hell are you doing here?”

“What the hell are _you_ doing here?” Oliver asks, his heart beating wildly in his chest as well. He feels as if he wants to smack Connor just as much as he wants to kiss him. He’s not sure which one would be more helpful now.

Connor puts a hand through his hair, going back to sit down on the tiny bed, “I’m…leaving.”

Oliver waits a moment for more, a better explanation, but none comes. He shakes his head, “That’s it? You’re leaving?” Oliver literally has to hold himself back from smacking some sense into Connor now. But he goes over and takes Connor’s face into his hands, forcing him to look up at him, “I’m not one of your twinks. I’m your _boyfriend_. You don’t get to just leave me without a damn good explanation.”

Connor looks into Oliver’s face, at his eyes, filled with worry and concern. That’s almost enough to make Connor cry - no one had ever felt that way for him before. But it was what Connor had done, what Connor had kept from Oliver for months that made him begin to cry. Oliver was so worried, so trusting of him even though he shouldn’t be. Not after what he’d done.

“Rebecca’s dead,” he tells Oliver simply, tears streaming down his face.

“Why do you have to run?” Oliver asks, his voice shaking. His mind races, hoping that his worst thoughts aren’t true. That Connor had something to do with it.

“I- I was there…” he stammers.

“You were there?” Oliver asks carefully, “So? You didn’t kill her…”

Connor shakes his head quickly, “No, but…” Connor’s lip begins to tremble, on the verge of a breakdown, as he begins to sniffle. “I need to go. They’re going to catch me. And put me in jail. I can’t…I can’t do that.”

“They’re not going to throw you in jail for something you didn’t do,” Oliver tries to rationalize, still holding Connor’s face. As long as Connor’s looking at him, he thinks he can keep Connor talking.

“It’s not…that’s not it,” Connor breathes out, getting the same panicked look as he did the night he showed up on Oliver’s door, “It’s…it’s so much worse, Oliver…”

“What?” Oliver pleads with him, “Please, Connor…tell me.”

Connor’s face crumples and he falls onto the bed, his hands going up to his face as he starts to cry. Oliver sits down next to him, putting an arm around his boyfriend as he encourages Connor to keep talking. And so Connor tells him everything about the night of the bonfire: why they were at the house, what Wes did with the trophy, how Connor had chopped the body up. 

Connor talks and he cries until he can't cry anymore and he just lays on the bed, Oliver curled up behind him. Oliver’s mind races as his hand runs up and down Connor’s chest. All the lies Connor’s told him for the past few months, pretending to have a drug problem to cover up his panic attack, all to cover up that they’re murderers.

“What are you going to do?” Connor asks quietly, his eyes closed tightly, not wanting to look at Oliver. In his mind, the best case scenario is that Oliver goes home and forgets about him; Connor can make a clean getaway and Oliver won’t be a part of it. He’ll be safe. He prepares himself for the worst, though; Oliver calls the police and he gets arrested here on the spot. Everything unravels and he’d spend the rest of his life in prison.

Oliver sighs, taking a moment to think. Everything he’s heard tonight has sent his mind reeling. But he can’t help his feelings for this man wrapped up in his arms. Somehow Connor seems lighter, despite everything he’s told him. Oliver imagines it’s taken quite a toll on his boyfriend to keep all of this inside for so long. 

He’s know from the beginning that Connor isn’t perfect. It’s never been a problem for Oliver. He doesn’t love Connor despite all of his imperfections. He loves all of him, all of these imperfections making Connor the man he is today. The man that Oliver has fallen absolutely head over heels in love with.

“We run,” Oliver tells him simply, pulling his arm around him even tighter.

Connor’s eyes open up wide, surprised though he keeps looking forward, “What?”

“We run,” Oliver repeats, “Wherever you were going.”

“Oliver,” Connor says, his voice thick with emotion, “I can’t ask you to do that with me…”

“Connor,” Oliver whispers into his boyfriend’s ear, making sure he knows he means it, "Don't you know there is nothing I wouldn't do with you?"


End file.
